Reader's Tip: The Shack

Husband never reads fiction. I used to read quite a bit of fiction--generally Christian fiction--but since I got married and life filled up with conversations at home, my reading has diminished and has been mostly focused on books that I thought would bolster my spiritual or work life.

Then a couple of weeks ago, Lori Ann, a parent at Husband's school, gave him a book to read called The Shack. I was shocked when Husband, as a gesture of respect to her, set aside his usual overfull schedule and began reading the book ... and couldn't seem to put it down.

The plot looked depressing: young Missy is kidnapped and killed while her family is on a camping trip at Wallowa Lake (a location just three hours' drive from where we live). The book begins with her father, Mack, getting a typed note from God, directing him to go back to the shack where his daughter was killed to meet with Him (God).

It seems like an unpromising and contrived beginning, and not at all like something my husband would read. That's why his dedication to finishing the book surprised me so much.

Husband and I had a road trip together through the Columbia Gorge this past week, and he suggested that although he had just finished reading the book, I do a read-aloud of it to him as he drove. So I read during the 4-hour trip through the gorge, and then every evening before we went to sleep, and then all the rest of the way back once I finished attending a meeting by phone while we drove. There were just a few chapters left when we got home, and I polished those off in the next couple of evenings.

The concepts about God as depicted in The Shack have been rolling around in my head ever since. My first jolt of pleasure came as God (referred to as "Papa") showed up in the book as an African-American mama. The Holy Spirit has taken on a completely different meaning for me. You'll have to read the book to find out why--I'm not going to spoil everything for you! And I had never thought about how God communicates internally. But the character of God depicted in the book affected me so deeply and positively that, several times in the events of my days this week, I've wanted to give a nod and a wink in God's direction over some interchange or situation. I'm not yet done thinking about it.

I've been wondering for three or four days about how to tell my blog readers about The Shack. Then I found this review, and it does much better than I could with the conceptual stuff. So read the review. Beyond that, I would just recommend you go out of your way to read The Shack. It's like nothing else you've read thus far, I'll wager.

And once you've read it, you might find yourself regularly sending a nod and a wink God's direction, too, and talking to Jesus more often than usual.